Taunton Trial Court hosts Cultural Appreciation Week

Saturday

TAUNTON — Taunton Trial Court staffers were in diversity mode this past week as they took part in what’s called Cultural Appreciation Week.

The statewide effort was introduced last year as Cultural Appreciation Day. It was conceived by Pamerson Ifill, who works as the state’s Probation Service Regional Supervisor.

The goal of Ifill’s initiative, according to a press release from Massachusetts Probation Service spokesman Coria Holland, was to “unite and educate court employees (regarding) issues of diversity and inclusiveness, as well as enhance services for court users.”

Holland says the success of last year’s program led to a decision by Trial Court Justice Paula Carey to extend the event to a full week.

As many as 60 courts and community correction centers in the commonwealth participated.

In Taunton, Holland, said, workers at the courthouse had their own private celebration on Wednesday that included various ethnic dishes.

The official public display was held Thursday.

Members of the public coming into the Broadway building on that day, if they had walked in the general direction of the juvenile court offices, would have seen flags representing different countries and an art mural created and donated by students at Taunton High School.

Holland said the weeklong celebration in the Bay State is one of the largest of its type in the country.

She described the scope of the display and demonstration at both the Taunton trial building and the nearby Taunton Community Corrections Center as “fairly simple" although effective.

Coria said court employees celebrated with a potluck lunch and bagpipe music played by court clinician Donna Lucas, as well as prerecorded music provided by a DJ.

Visitors at the corrections center were treated to story telling, ethnic food dishes and team-building games.

Some other courts and facilities in the state, Holland said, marked the occasion by staging week-long events.

Justice Carey, in a statement, said the “multi-pronged effort to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion” are key to developing “our capacity to understand and respond to these issues.”

Some of the largest events of the week were held at Berkshire Superior Court; Hampden County’s Roderick Ireland Hall of Justice; Brockton District Court; Worcester Court Complex; Malden District Court in Middlesex County; Middlesex Superior Court; and Edward Brooke Courthouse in Boston.

Festivities at some of those locales included a Polynesian dancer; a DJ playing Jamaican and African music; a performance by a high school jazz band; speeches delivered by officials; and a potluck luncheon.